Fires devastate 200,000 hectares of land in Far East.

ST. PETERSBURG, August 11 (Itar-Tass) - Thirteen new forest fires have
been registered in Russia's far eastern region over the past 24 hours: ten
- in Chukotka, two - in Yakutia and one in the Khabarovsk territory. The
fires have already devastated more than 200,000 hectares of woods, steppes
and the tundra. There's no threat to populated localities, oil and gas
pipelines and other economic facilities, the press service of the far
eastern regional centre of the Russian Emergencies Ministry reports.
Over the past 24 hours, 153 people and 13 vehicles have been mobilized
to extinguish the blazes. Aircraft have made three flights to assess the
fire situation.
A total of 948 fires have occurred in the Far Eastern Federal District
since the start of the fire hazardous season.

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